


Whumptober 2020 31 Today's Special: Torture

by frankie_mcstein



Series: Whumptober 2020 [31]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Arguments, Fluffy Ending, Gen, Kidnapping, Whumptober 2020, Worried boys, disorientation, hospital visits, noise torture, poor Higgins, protective Magnum, restrained
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27305473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankie_mcstein/pseuds/frankie_mcstein
Summary: Whumptober 2020 prompt 31- Today's Special: TortureIt had been three days since Higgins had been taken and all they knew was they needed to find her.It had been three days since she had been taken and all she knew was she needed her boys to find her.
Relationships: Juliet Higgins & Everyone
Series: Whumptober 2020 [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947172
Comments: 20
Kudos: 51





	Whumptober 2020 31 Today's Special: Torture

**Author's Note:**

> I did it! I didn't think I would! And I had to change which prompt I was following here partway through lol! But here, kidnappings, noise torture, fluffy endings... all the good stuff to end the month!

Some anniversaries were fun. The anniversary of the day he had enlisted, for example, always saw him being stood a round of drinks. Some were not so great. The anniversary of the day his parents had been killed in a car crash usually led to the sort of introspective thoughts that another person might have called depressive. But the worst of them all, the one that really did a number on him, every time, was the anniversary of the day they discovered that Hannah had betrayed them.

Not the day they had been grabbed, although that was never a great day. No, the anniversary of the day that Thomas had been dragged back to their cramped, filthy little cell, burning up with a fever, skin clammy from the infection that was raging in a gash in his leg, muttering Hannah's name over and over. The day Thomas had grabbed the hem of Nuzo's shirt like a child clamoring for attention and begged him to keep Hannah away. The day his best friend had sobbed as he'd blamed himself over and over for falling for a traitor and condemning his friends.

Rick had glared at the calendar as if trying to scare it into changing. So many things could affect the rotation of the Earth, earthquakes, bombs, everyone jumping at the same time- he was less convinced about that one- surely sheer force of will could make it skip just one day, right? But the date hadn't changed, all the glaring had been starting to give him a headache, and he already felt bad enough without adding actual physical pain to the mix.

He'd told himself to make a start on the inventory, hoping he could fill his head so full of other numbers that it would render the ones on the calendar meaningless, if only for a little while. He'd counted boxes and bottles and even made a start on a neat little tally system which, if his staff remembered to use it, could have cut hours off of future stock takes. 

But he'd still been anxious and on edge, remembered adrenaline and anger prickling at his nerves, and he'd felt the need for human contact. So, with the thought that Higgy had taken over a seat at the bar while she ran background checks, he'd headed out in the hopes that a chat would help stop his thoughts from running in circles.

The way the date was running through his head, stirring up memories he wished he didn't have, had distracted him so much that, at first, he hadn't even noticed that Higgins had taken off her sling. When he had realized, he'd stared for a long while, expecting her to stretch her arm or rotate her shoulder, and then slip the sling back on. When she hadn't made a move to replace the strap, he'd been ready to go over and offer a helping hand; he knew from experience how fiddly they could be. 

And then he'd noticed that she was typing. Her fingers were flying over the keyboard as she ran checks on the Sun-Smooth employees like her shoulder wasn't bothering her at all. And he'd thought of how T.C. could be in danger because he was covering for her, how Thomas could be in danger because he was working without her, and the irrationality of the thought hadn't occurred to him at all. He'd felt his stomach twist and sink as an uncharacteristic surge of anger had rolled over him. 

"Really?" he'd called, suppressing a twinge of guilt as his voice made her jump. "You're not even gonna try to keep up your lame little pretense?" He'd glared at her. He'd known deep down that it wasn't her he was angry at, that he was overreacting and being grossly unfair, but he'd pushed the thought away.

"Rick, let me explain..."

He'd cut her off.

"Let me explain something. We took you in. Treated you like our sister. We adored you." His head had yelled something at the way she'd blinked at the past tense, but his heart had shushed it. "I can't believe you lied to Tommy. Or that you thought you could just sit here and make me complicit. You know what happened the last time we were betrayed by a woman we trusted, right?"

Her mouth had dropped open at that, as if she'd tried to gasp only to find she was suddenly sitting in a vacuum. Rick hadn't felt big or clever; there was no satisfaction rolling through him. He'd felt miserable, knowing he was taking his bad mood out on her, using her as a scapegoat, and not knowing how to make it stop.

"I can't believe you of all people would do this. Don't you remember how it felt when Ian betrayed you?" He'd turned away too late to miss the tears that sprang to her eyes at his parting shot. He'd wanted to turn back and apologize, explain to her what he was really worked up about, anything to wipe that look off her face. He'd been pretty sure she'd look less devastated if he'd simply walked up and punched her square in the face. But he'd found his legs carrying him back toward the storeroom.

…

Rick finally made eye contact with his friends as he finished telling them the whole, sad story of how he had, in his words, "chased Jules out of La Mariana." Magnum and T.C. shared a heavy sort of look.

"Rick…"

"I know, Tommy, I know. Even if she was lying to you, I still shouldn't have gone off like that." Rick sighed heavily. "Do you think she'll understand if I try to explain?"

*She's done some dumb things too, you know. I don't see her holding a grudge. Especially because she was only lying to…" Magnum trailed off, an awkward look on his face.

"Just to what? You knew she wasn't really hurt?" If anything, Rick looked more guilty now than he had before.

Magnum just shrugged a little. "I uh, I know why she did it, yeah. And it's her story to tell, not mine. But she wasn't 'betraying' anyone."

Rick groaned and let his head fall to the bar with a thud. He muttered something into the counter before pulling his cell out. Magnum and T.C. watched in amusement as he unlocked the phone, scrolled through his contacts, and pressed the call button, all without lifting his head a single inch. Amusement that faded when he ended the call without speaking a word.

"Voicemail," he said dully. "I guess, if someone had accused me of being Hannah two-point-oh, I wouldn't wanna talk to them either."

T.C. was already tugging his own phone out of his pocket. "I'll get Higgy on the phone, brother." Her number was on the screen before he finished the sentence. "Then I'll just pass her over to you." His brow furrowed when his call went to voicemail too, and he looked at Magnum.

"You don't think she's ignoring us all, do you?" He sounded incredulous, like he didn't believe it was possible even as he was asking.

Magnum just grabbed his phone and quickly dialed Higgins, positive she would answer to him, if only to tell him to tell Rick and T.C. to stop calling her. He counted the rings, feeling his stomach twist as he got to eight and the recorded greeting kicked in.

"Voicemail." He couldn't help but frown. Rick hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said the three of them were treating her like a sister; however antagonistic their relationship had been, or still was, she was a part of their ohana. Thinking that she was refusing to talk to them, even to let Rick explain, felt wrong, and Magnum suddenly wondered if she had thought Rick was speaking for all three of them.

"Where would she go?" T.C. was asking. "Back to Robin's?"

And that made Magnum's frown deepen. Where would she go? Where  _ could _ she go if she thought she had fallen out with all of them? Everyone she was friends with, that he knew of, was friends with the three of them too. And you can't go to someone's friends to complain about them. So, unless she had a thriving social life that none of them knew anything about, she was alone and thinking she had just lost her family all over again.

"I'll go back to the Nest," he decided. "If she isn't there now, then she will be eventually. You guys meet me there when you can, and, if she gets there before you, I'll try and smooth things over. Explain about today and… well, I'll try to explain."

Rick and T.C. just nodded. Explaining the significance of the day wasn't going to be easy; no matter how many therapists the military had paid for them to go and see, talking about their time in the camp never got easier. But, hopefully, they'd be able to make their Higgy understand.

…

She couldn’t move. She wanted to put her hands over her ears to try to block out the screeching sounds that were blasting in the small room. Or press them over her eyes to try to black out the flashing lights that were burning into her retinas even through her tightly closed eyelids. Or wrap her arms around herself and keep out some of the cold that was making her shiver uncontrollably. But her arms and legs were stretched out on the floor, tied so tightly she could feel her chest pulling against her arms as she breathed.

She tried to distract herself, recognising the noise and lights and cold as age-old interrogation techniques and determined not to give the men who had taken her any sort of information. She ran through the jobs she and Magnum had taken recently, looking for anyone she thought might be responsible for kidnapping her. She didn’t turn anyone up, and it was hard to focus. So she shifted her attention. She knew it was bad, that she should pick a train of thought and stick with it, but she wasn’t going to be able to keep running through the same names and faces in her head.

Instead, she started focusing on the steps her boys would take to get her back. How long would it take for them to realise she was missing? Rick’s awful accusations rang in her head for a moment, but she pushed them away. However little he thought of her, he wouldn’t leave her in danger. So, how long? If Magnum thought she was sulking and hiding from them all, he might not expect her to be back at the estate until morning. But surely he would realise something was wrong when morning rolled around and she was still nowhere to be found.

How long had she been here already? Her head was pounding from the noise, and her eyes were aching and gritty. Assume it’s early morning; don’t get your hopes up too far too soon. So, a few more hours and Magnum would start looking for her. What would he do first?

She almost didn’t notice the voice that tugged at her hearing. The words that hissed beneath the scream of metal on metal that was pumping in through hidden speakers. The poison that was being dripped into her struggling mind.

…

Katsumoto had called to say they had found the Rover. It had been driven into a ditch along the side of a quiet back road, dents and scratches showing it had been rammed at least twice before finally going off the tarmac. 

_ “There’s some small traces of blood inside, but nothing to make us think she was seriously injured. We’re working on the assumption that she took a sight blow to the head after the airbag had already deployed.”  _ He had hesitated for a second before asking,  _ “Any idea why she would be taking such a roundabout route home?” _

Magnum had glanced at Rick, whose face was a picture of guilt and misery, then said that he thought she might have been trying to work through a few issues in a missing person’s case they were working on. “The kid just lost her mom; I think Higgins felt a bit of a connection with her.” It wasn’t a lie, and it saved them having to explain about the things Rick had said.

Katsumoto had told them they were working on getting access to traffic cameras along the surrounding roads and issuing an appeal for anyone who had seen the Rover to come forward. Then he’d asked about recent and current cases.

“I’ll send you all the case files,” Magnum had promised. “I can’t think of anyone who would want to kidnap either of us, but I might have missed something.” 

No one really believed that. Magnum was nothing if not preternaturally intuitive; if someone he had worked for was the sort to run a woman off the road and kidnap her, they all believed he would have an inkling of it. But Katsumoto had just thanked him and ended the call, and the three men were left looking at each other.

“What now?”

And Rick and T.C. were both looking to him for their orders. If he told them to march behind into hell, they would do it without thinking, even if he said it was just for fun. To get a member of their ohana back, to save their little sister, they would run the whole way to the fiery gates. So, when Magnum said he was going to go back through every case he had ever worked with Higgins, even if she had only looked up something on her laptop for him, neither of them objected. Just moved to the table and waited for him to link them to the case files.

The fact that Higgins was the one who had computerized everything tugged at them all. It almost made them feel like she was there with them, helping them to find her. The fact that, as the day passed and the sun went down, none of them had found anything of any use, just spurred them on to keep trying.

…

The whispers were driving her mad. Maybe that was the plan. Keeping her awake was just to make sure she could hear the words that she couldn’t decipher, keep her straining to catch them. She kept telling herself to ignore them, that it was all designed to keep her awake and on edge, to soften her up, and then she’d find her ears straining again. Tears were building in her eyes, tears that she was fighting to keep back. 

The pain in her head and the ache of her limbs being held so tightly was making it hard to keep track of time. The jarring, discordant sounds were throwing off her attempts to count the minutes. The strobe lights, on and off with no discernible rhythm to track, were making it hard to follow her train of thought.

_ ‘Your boys will find you,’ _ she told herself, dragging the words into her mind over and over again.  _ ‘They won't stop looking for you.’ _ She couldn’t even remember what Rick had said to her the previous day. She was so tired, her arms and legs were cramping, her stomach was rolling, thirst was burning in her throat, and she clung to the idea that her boys would come charging in.

_ ‘Any time now.’ _ She was begging her mind and body to hold on until they came and found her.  _ ‘Any time now.’ _

She didn’t realise her lips were moving in time with her thoughts. She didn’t realise her ears were straining yet again to try to make out the insidious whispers. She didn’t realise her body was trembling beneath the strain of the restraints. All she knew was that she needed her boys to come save her.

…

Three days since Higgins had been kidnapped, and all Rick could think about was how it was all his fault. How his last words to her were so hurtful that they had literally driven her into the arms of her abductors. How, if they never found out what happened to her, it was going to haunt them all.

He looked at T.C. and saw the same things he had seen in the mirror: bloodshot eyes underlined by dark smudges and a forehead creased from long hours of frowning. His hands were shaking slightly from the lack of sleep and the overload of caffeine, and he knew T.C. would be in the same situation. Neither of them had slept for more than half an hour at a time since Higgins had been taken, and he didn’t see that changing any time soon.

He sighed before forcing his attention back to the case file that he was meant to be reviewing. They were still trawling through the cases Magnum and Higgins had worked together, looking for anything that could be classed as a lead. He knew Katsumoto was trying to pull strings to get them access to information from Higgins’ MI6 days but had been forced to put his efforts on hold while he chased after a tip that a known arms dealer had been seen on the island. Magnum had been doing the same thing via different channels, begging anyone he thought might be able to help for any sort of information that might lead them to someone with a grudge against Higgins, and had left over an hour ago for a ‘meeting’ that was so cloaked in secrecy he hadn’t even hinted at where he was going.

Rick jumped violently as his cell rang, covering the reaction by lunging for the phone and, when he saw Magnum’s picture on the screen, stabbing at the answer button harder than he needed to. He didn’t even get to say hello, Magnum was talking before Rick had the phone to his ear.

_ “Gordon found her!” _

T.C. heard the words from the other side of the table, his head snapping up as Rick tried to ask what had happened.

_ “I don’t know the full story. She was being held in the warehouse where the gunrunner was seen. They’re taking her to Saint Katherine’s.” _

“We’ll meet you there!” Rick called, already heading for the door, T.C. right behind him. Being taken to hospital was good; a hospital meant she was still alive. He wouldn’t let himself think of anything else except that fact; Higgins was still alive.

He leaped into the driver’s seat of his Porsche, revving the engine as T.C. climbed in beside him, and the car pulled away from its parking spot as if impatient to get going, like it could sense the Ferrari also racing towards its destination.

Sure enough, just a few miles south of the hospital, Magnum was skirting speeding fines as he pushed his driving skills, desperate to get to Higgins. Katsumoto had given him a little more detail than he had shared with Rick; Magnum knew that Higgins had been found spread-eagle on the floor of a soundproofed room, the noise level so high the first man through the door had reeled back like he’d been hit. And he knew that she hadn’t recognized the detective, that she had barely even reacted to anything until someone had managed to kill the speakers. And that, when it all went quiet, she had simply curled into a ball and shook until the EMTs had shoved past Katsumoto.

All he’d said was “she reacted badly,” but it was all Magnum had needed. She would have lashed out, broken bones if she’d been given the chance, and he wondered if the medics would have risked giving her a mild sedative or if they would have strapped her down. His fingers clenched on the wheel as he imagined her panic at finding herself free only to find herself being restrained all over again. He hoped she had been given something to calm her down, something to take her away from the terror she must have been feeling.

But, as he practically ran down the corridor towards Katsumoto, he could see the look on the face of the woman talking to him and knew things hadn’t been that simple.

“I’m loath to do it,” the woman was saying as Magnum reached them, “but I’m not sure we have a choice.”

“You wanna strap her down.” It wasn’t a question; Magnum was sickeningly familiar with the aftereffects of all kinds of torture techniques and knew that, if she wasn’t totally broken, Higgins would be fighting. 

He didn’t back down from the look the doctor gave him, and she finally nodded.

“I take it you’re family.” At his nod, she continued, “It’s obvious Ms. Higgins has been brutally restrained, and the last thing I want is to tie her down again, but she keeps lashing out at the staff.”

“Let me try to help, please.” Magnum knew he was begging, but all he could think about was how scared and disoriented Higgins must have been to be reacting with violence. “I’m happy to take full responsibility,” he added quickly, seeing the doctor’s unimpressed expression. “If I get hurt, it’s my own fault.”

“The sooner she calms down, the sooner you can treat her and the sooner I can take a statement,” Katsumoto offered, clearly hoping to help Magnum make his case. “If we’re going to catch the people who did this to her, we need to move quickly.”

The two men stared at the woman in front of them as her brow furrowed, pleading with her to listen to them. Finally, after nearly ten full seconds, she sighed.

“You have one minute,” and she held up a single finger for emphasis. “After that, I’ll have no choice but to put the safety of my staff first and call for the restraints.” She turned and walked away, Magnum nearly stepping on her heels as he followed her. 

It occurred to him he hadn’t even caught her nametag, and he wondered briefly if she had thought he was being rude. Then they were stopping at a room and he was being told to go on in and to be careful. There were orderlies in the room who would step in if it looked like he needed help.

Magnum stopped just inside the door. Three orderlies, bulky looking men who seemed far too strong to be dealing with someone as slender as Higgins, were standing in the center of the room. Beyond them, tucked into a ball and pressed against the wall, was Juliet. Her entire body was shaking, and she was pleading in broken whispers for them to leave her alone. He didn't know if she meant the hospital staff or the men who had taken her. He didn't care. Her doctor was in the doorway, watching the second hand on her wristwatch ticking away his time limit. 

He moved past the orderlies and promptly forgot all about them. Higgins was pale, drawn, malnutrition and sleep deprivation and dehydration all playing their part in breaking her down; he recognized the signs immediately. But it was what he couldn't see that scared him. No blood. No bruises except on her wrists and ankles. Nothing to suggest what else had been done to her. Nothing to tell him how they had kept her under control.

He knelt in front of her and noticed the way she tried, almost instinctively, to pull away from him. Trapped as she was by the corner of the wall, she simply pushed herself tighter into her huddle, muscles straining to maintain it. She didn't even lift her head, didn't even try to see who it was that was so close to her. Just sensed a presence and assumed danger and Magnum felt his heart twist in his chest.

"Juliet?" He kept his voice quiet, knowing from the scant information Katsumoto had shared that she would have had enough loud noises to last her a lifetime. "Higgy?" There was some flicker of a response. The slightest easing of the white-knuckle grip she had on her own legs. He wanted desperately to reach out to her, but he knew from his own experience how awful a mistake that could be.

"Come on," he whispered, trying to stay as quiet as he could while still making his voice recognizable. "Come back to me, girl."

Another wave passed over her, the same tiny response as before. But this time, it grew. Her fingers shifted slightly, her legs relaxed the barest bit, and she lifted her head. It was a fraction of a movement, just enough that she was able to peek out at him from behind her arms.

"There you go, that's it." He was proud of her for managing that much and let the pride leak into his voice. She needed all the encouragement she could get, and, if that was what it would take, he'd keep that same tone in his voice until the world ended.

He reached out, feeling the men behind him tense, ready to leap forward and drag him away if Higgins reacted badly. But he didn't try to touch her. He'd been planning on it, if he were being honest. But she flinched away from him, eyes wide with fright, and he froze.

"It's okay, Juliet. It's just me. It's just Thomas. I won't hurt you. I would never hurt you." He kept his eyes fixed on hers, hoping she would be able to see the truth of his words in his gaze even through her fear and confusion. She didn't move. But she didn't look away either. Just kept staring at him, looking so scared. And then she looked down at his hand, still hovering in mid-air between them. And it suddenly clicked.

"I get it," he told her, sympathy twisting in his stomach. "Hallucinations can't touch. You're scared I'll vanish if you let me try to touch you."

She stared at him helplessly, desperate to believe he really was there, terrified to find out he wasn't. He stayed still, ignoring the way the muscles in his arm were starting to complain.

"I'm here. I'm right here. I swear to you I'm telling the truth." He was sure he'd had longer than the minute the doctor had granted him, but he couldn't hear footsteps behind him, so he kept his attention focused on Higgins.

On the way her breathing hitched as her right hand lifted away from her left elbow, the movement small and slow, like she was fighting with herself to move. On the way her gaze was fixed on his face, like she was trying to commit it to memory before he vanished. On the way tears flooded into her eyes as her hand moved closer to his.

She stopped moving again, her hand so close to his that he could feel the chill radiating off her skin. He hoped she could feel the warmth of his hand, hoped it would convince her to move those last few millimeters. A tear trickled down her cheek as she pulled in a breath, closed her eyes, and rested the very tips of her fingers on the palm of his hand.

He didn't react. He wanted to. He wanted to grab her other hand, pull her to him, wrap her up in his arms and, if she would let him, hold her close until everything bad in the world had learned that it couldn't touch her. But she was still shaking, looking at him with wide-eyed fear, and he kept his body so very still.

"Thomas?" Her voice, even the small whisper it was, broke over his name. Another tear slid down her face as her fingers ran slowly over his hand. If her skin hadn't been so cold, he wouldn't have felt her touch.

"I'm here, girl. I'm right here." He took a chance and flexed his fingers, catching her hand in his. She gasped, a tiny sound that tore at him like a knife, and he squeezed gently, hoping it wouldn't be too much for her to deal with. 

All her breath left her in a sigh and her eyes closed again, like she couldn’t keep them open any longer. Her fingers shifted slightly and wrapped themselves around his hand, returning the pressure even as her hand shook at the exertion. 

"Thomas." Her eyes blinked open again and roamed around the room, as if she had only just realized she was somewhere away from where she had been held. She shrank away from the orderlies, quickly looking back to Magnum like she was checking he hadn't somehow vanished while she wasn't looking, fear building in her eyes and on her face. He gave her a small smile, lifting his free hand and wrapping it over her fingers, trying to warm her cold hand.

"I think I hit someone." There was a tremor in her voice that he couldn't pin down. But she was staring at him imploringly.

He wasn’t sure how to reply, if she was scared that she  _ had _ hit someone or that she  _ hadn’t _ .

"You did," he nodded, making sure there was no emotion in his voice that she could react to. Personally, he was proud of her for still being able to fight, even after everything she had gone through, but he wasn't sure if she should know that or not. When he saw her chest heave as she sucked in a scared breath, he wished he had straight up told her he was proud. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She was panting a little, panic instantly clawing at her, racing around her body, crashing down over her mind. "Please don't send me back. Please." She was clutching at his hand, sheer terror on her face.

"Hush, Higgy, it's okay. No one's sending you anywhere. You're safe now." His thumb was running over her wrist, gentle strokes, trying to soothe the pulse that was jumping under her skin.

"Safe?" She blinked at him, the panic receding in the face of her sudden confusion. "I can't remember what that feels like." 

Magnum felt his heart break clean in half. He reached out, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close. He didn't care if she reacted badly; he'd hold her until she stopped fighting. But she didn't fight. She moved willingly, pressing herself against him, feeling the warmth of his body sinking into her chilled skin, nestling against his chest so she could hear his heartbeat in her ear.

"This is what safe feels like," he told her, ignoring the pull in his back at the awkward angle. "This is safe."

...

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, you've read it right, there is a second chapter. I actually planned this one, which is why this is the only fic from this month that I'm planning to continue that's actually marked as incomplete lol.


End file.
